Seville Cathedral

The cathedral is huge but I found no angle to take one photo that does it justice. This is one of the facades, imposing and ornate.

This corner shows the Giralda tower, built by the Moors between 1184 and 1196 as a minaret ,and part of their mosque. Some time after the Christian reconquest in 1248 the mosque was replaced with the cathedral (1402 to 1506), but the Giralda tower was deemed too beautiful to be demolished and was altered slightly to became the cathedral bell tower.

Visitors to the cathedral can climb to the top of the Giralda from inside the cathedral. The ascent is unusual in that it is by a series of 35 ramps, rather than stairs, wide enough for two mounted guards to pass.

 We slogged up the ramps to the top, from where the view is extensive.

This elevation shows the dense mass of houses in the old town.

The view below is towards the river, and looking down on parts of the cathedral and the Courtyard of the Oranges.

The bells are suspended above your head from whichever point of the compass you view. Let’s hope the fixings are secure!

Another notable feature of the Giralda is the weathervane. The tower takes its name from geraldillo, Spanish for weathervane. A ground-level copy shows it is a handsome piece of work and appears to be based on a ship’s rudder. The lady is perhaps the ship’s cook.

The next photo gives an idea of the cathedral’s interior vastness. 

The workmanship in the cathedral was meant to surpass anything of its day. Even the ceiling.

Of particular interest is Christopher Columbus’ tomb – or is it? Columbus was buried and reburied in a number of different locations, the previous time before this in Havana, Cuba. In 1898 Cuba gained independence so Columbus was brought back to Spain for burial in Seville. But then another Columbus body was found in Santa Domingo, Haiti, a previous resting place.  No reason why he shouldn’t be shared around, I suppose. It’s fine tomb anyway.

In St Anthony’s chapel is the famous Vision of St Anthony by artist Murillo. St Anthony is said to be transfixed in ecstasy by infant Jesus and attendant throng appearing out of a golden cloud, but it actually looks like he’s trying to shoo them away. The font is old, Renaissance, and beautifully carved.

The largest altarpiece in the world adorns the main chapel. Begun in 1482, it was the lifetime’s work of Flemish artist Pieter Dancart and contains over 1,000 carved figures. Bet he wouldn’t even carve the Sunday joint after he retired. Enough is enough.

In the vestry are more wonders, like this monstrance by Juan de Arfe, the wedding cake ornament in the centre of the photo. A monstrance is a showpiece for public display at important festivals like Easter. This is a monster monstrance, weighing nearly 500 kilos, Arfe a tonne near enough. Beautifully made, a craftsman who doesn’t do things by Arfe.

Here’s another monstrance, a bit smaller, showing a true thorn from the crown of thorns in the glass circle. All good crowd-pullers.

And this gold crown holds the second largest pearl in the world.

The cathedral project was the product of the great wealth created from trading with, and plunder from, the New World, so no expense was spared in constructing it and filling it with treasures.

We leave the cathedral through the Patio de los Naranjos, the Courtyard of the Oranges,  and then through the very same door the Moors built for entry and exit to their mosque.  

We spent an enjoyable and varied afternoon in the cathedral, and at the same time avoiding information overload, after which it all becomes a blur. How do trippers take back anything on the “10 country in 2 weeks” type tours, apart from hundreds of selfies?